| FAS revealed who will compete for Magnitogorsk Tomorrow it will become known who will get the state stake in the Magnitogorsk Iron and Steel Works. On Wednesday, the Russian Federal Property Fund will hold an open auction for the sale of 17.84% of Magnitka's authorized capital. Trading will begin at $790.15 million.
Yesterday, the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) provided the opportunity to guess the name of the winner by revealing the list of companies that received preliminary consent to participate in the auction.
According to the FAS, applications for the state stake in MMK have been received from 13 companies, of which only 11 will be admitted to the auction: Mechel Steel Group OJSC, Tula Investment Company OJSC, Novolipetsk Metallurgical Plant OJSC, Investment Company Settlement and Fund CJSC Center", LLC "Trading House "Mechel", LLC "DEKMUS", LLC "ORK-Sfera", LLC "Lant", Littel Echo Invest Corp., UFGIS STRUCTURED HOLDINGS LIMITED, Inter-Rail Transport Limited. (Appeals from Miroglior Holdings Limited and CJSC RusCentreConsult are being considered.)
According to Vremya Novostey, the Tula Investment Company represents the interests of Magnitka shareholders, who will go to the auction as the “fifth column” of MMK. As a source familiar with the preparations for the privatization of the plant explained, “the purpose of this company’s participation in the auction is to insure management during led by Viktor Rashnikov, who will also go to the auction through a number of affiliated structures. Either the shareholders give money to the management - and then the buyer is a company not officially associated with the steel plant, registered offshore, or the Tula Investment Company will act independently in the interests of MMK shareholders (if the first one). the circuit will fail."
The fact that NLMK will participate in bidding separately from Mechel, according to Alexander Liberov, business director of the audit and consulting group Development of Business Systems (provided consulting services to both MMK and Mechel), does not mean that these players perform independently. It is known that NLMK and Mechel were negotiating the creation of an alliance. And if the price for the government stake during the bidding exceeds the financial capabilities of each side, they will act as a united front. And having won, they will share control of the package. Both Mechel and NLMK, Mr. Liberov believes, as well as MMK, have affiliated structures among the companies mentioned yesterday by the FAS for safety net. The companies Littel Echo Invest Corp., UFGIS STRUCTURED HOLDINGS LIMITED, Inter-Rail Transport Limited and Miroglior Holdings Limited, the expert explains, are offshore speculators whose main goal is to intercept the state stake from real contenders for its more profitable resale (including in parts ).
It is obvious that the state is interested in getting as much money as possible for the MMK stake and has discussed this with all participants. However, so far the majority of experts interviewed by the Vremya Novostey newspaper believe that MMK’s management, which is backed by the plant’s real shareholders, has the greatest chance of winning. Yana GODOVANAYA |
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